CHENNAI/TIRUCHY : The Left parties, which support the TVK government from the outside, on Sunday announced that they will contest the upcoming bye-elections to two Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu together and would not support any other alliance in the state, including that of the ruling party.
The CPI will contest in the Dharapuram seat, while the CPM will field its candidate in Maduranthagam. Their candidates for the October 6 bypolls are expected to be announced on September 15.
Stating that the Left parties would contest the two seats together, CPI(M) state secretary P Shanmugam said in Tiruchy on Sunday that their decision is against all three alliances in the fray, namely the DMK-led alliance, the AIADMK-BJP combine and the TVK alliance.
This bypoll has been imposed on public, says CPM
The decision to contest independently would neither affect the TVK government nor benefit the DMK, he clarified, adding that the Left would also continue to support the TVK government from outside.
He said the Left parties would use the campaign to explain to voters its criticism of the TVK government’s performance during its first 120 days, its administrative measures and economic policies. Criticising the two MLAs, who had won on an AIADMK ticket in the Assembly election before resigning and joining the TVK, Shanmugam alleged that horse-trading had taken place. “This bye-election is not a natural election; it has been imposed on the people,” he told reporters in Coimbatore.
CPI state secretary M Veerapandian said, “The bye-election is different from general elections and we are not part of any alliance for the bypolls. In the prevailing political situation, we will not support anyone and will contest independently,” he told reporters in Chennai on Sunday.
He added that CPI, CPM and CPI(ML) Liberation would hold discussions before finalising the candidates. Veerapandian on Sunday reiterated that the Left’s support to the government was aimed at keeping “fascist forces” at bay and that the TVK should remain firm in its commitment to secularism.
The October 6 bypolls are being held in the SC-reserved Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies after the AIADMK MLAs elected from the seats resigned and joined the TVK. The TVK has fielded the same leaders, K Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam) and P Sathyabama (Dharapuram), in the seats they resigned from.
